SAP business information warehouse is the central component in SAP suite of applications and can run as independent software in SAP or non-SAP environment. The fragmented and disjointed data across the organization stop the management from taking crucial decisions within a proper time slab, this is where data warehouse solution comes forward to resolve the problem.
SAP business information warehouse extracts data from internal and external resources and store it in a central database. The data stored in the database is retrieved, transformed and presented in a form which helps the management to analyze it and make decisions. The SAP BW has key elements like Data sources, InfoCubes, InfoProviders, ODS objects, InfoObjects and MultiProviders. Data sources are simple and flat data storage structures which store data which is logically connected and has been sourced from the external source.
Master data and data from online transactional data processes or OLTP are stored in Infosources. Infosources are merged together and data is stored in ODS objects which is then utilized for reporting and analysis. Infocubes store the data according to business perspective like geographical location etc.; they are multi dimensional data containers. Info providers do not contain any data they refer to different data objects. Mutiproviders are virtual data providers which make data accessible for reporting and analysis purposes.
SAP business information warehouse has extraction storage services layer, storage services layer, analysis and access services layer, presentation services layer, administrative services and metadata services. ETL has two parts staging engine and storage service, staging manages the data from external sources interfacing with AWB scheduler while storage services provide access to the data. Storage services layer work with four different components Master data manager, ODS manager, InfoCube manager and archiving manager.
Master data manager manages the storage, retrieval and access to the data for SAP BW and other warehouses routines. ODS manager generates ODS data objects and provide access to them for reporting and analysis. Infocube manager generates infocube data tables and provide access to them for reporting and analysis. Archiving manager keeps track of unused and dormant data and also of metadata which may change over a period of time.
SAP BW gives a complete picture of the company to the management about its functioning by accumulating and assimilating the information and from all the departments for planning and analysis. SAP business information warehouse also acts as early warning system for the management and also establishes a strategic planning system in the organization. It allows interface with data sources other than SAP environment which makes it functional with all the levels of the organization to make data staging complete and compact for SAP BW tools to analyze. It establishes coordination and removes interdependencies of various departments on each other for timely and correct transfer of information by providing one single system.
Meta objects can create info marts, operational data stores and warehouses for uploading the data of different planning tools, manipulating the data according to the requirement of the system and giving facility to the user for writing back the data and storing it in the system.
